College Men's Basketball: Northern turns back similar opponent

April 03, 2007|By Dave Vilhauer, American News Sports Writer

When the Northern State Wolves glanced across the basketball floor Friday night, what they saw looked awfully familiar. In a matchup of similar styles and philosophy, the Wolves finally subdued a pesky Midland Lutheran squad 78-67 in non-conference men's basketball at Wachs Arena. "They're all fairly skilled and they can all shoot it," said Northern coach Don Meyer about the Warriors from Fremont, Neb. It became evident early on that the visitors would employ much of the same strategy that Northern uses. As a result, the contest was competitive most of the way. While the Wolves never trailed in the contest, they had a hard time shaking Midland Lutheran. Northern led by just five points at the half and owned the same margin with 8:43 left in the game. "They just kept coming back at us," said Northern guard Craig Nelson. "Unless we get defensive stops, we're not going to be able to put teams away." That defense, or lack thereof, was a point of contention for the Wolves following the game. Midland Lutheran, much like Northern, attempts to score in transition and repeatedly took advantage of numbers on the break to find spot-up shooters. "We had a lot of miscommunication and a lot of guys got wide open," said Northern forward Kevin Ratzsch. The Wolves often got caught lagging behind on the break and the Warriors made them pay. "We have to get all five guys back," Nelson said, "and then find our guys in transition." - orthern likes to pressure the passing lanes and hound ball handlers. While the Wolves forced 20 turnovers, Midland Lutheran was up to the challenge on many possessions. "We're very stretched out defensively," Meyer said. "We're trying to pressure but we're not very good at recoveries. We created a lot of offense for them." - elson created plenty of offense for the Wolves. The junior scored 14 second-half points, including six in the opening minute of the second stanza, to help keep Northern in control. "It just happened that I got a couple of open looks," Nelson said of the surge. "My teammates just found me at the right time." - elson finished with a team-high 20 points. Ratzsch added 14 and Luke Wicks contributed 10. Uncharacteristically, the Wolves often found themselves in search of a basket with the shot clock winding down. "We were just out of sync," Ratzsch said. "Everybody was just standing around." While it is uncommon for Northern to run the shot clock under 10 seconds, the Wolves will be content to look for a good shot, according to Nelson. "We don't mind having long possessions when we're swinging the ball," Nelson said. "We just have to make sure we're looking inside all the time." The Wolves (2-0) will likely see a much different opponent when they look across at the Augustana Vikings at 7 tonight at Wachs Arena. "I'm sure that they'll be good and I'm sure that it will be as physical a game as we'll see in here all year," Meyer said. "We'll be tested, there's no doubt about it." MIDLAND LUTHERAN (1-3): Jason Aherns 0-2 0-0 0, Luke Simons 3-6 1-4 8, Zac Gradoville 4-6 3-5 11, Chad Cruise 6-18 4-6 20, Trey Boggs 2-2 1-1 5, Chad Langemeier 0-0 0-0 0, Adam Schmoldt 4-10 0-0 9, John Connot 2-3 1-4 5, Kevin McGill 1-3 5-6 8, Ron Kmiecik 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 22-50 16-28 67. - ORTHERN STATE (2-0): Kevin Ratzsch 7-11 0-0 14, Levi Hamilton 3-7 2-2 8, Craig Nelson 6-11 5-5 20, Dan DeWitt 3-8 1-3 7, Mitch Boeck 3-7 0-0 6, Nick Schultz 0-0 0-2 0, Brett Newton 0-0 2-2 2, Luke Wicks 3-9 3-4 10, Cole Kratovil 0-0 0-0 0, John Curtis-Carr 0-0 0-0 0, Robert Thomas 4-5 0-1 8, Dan Magrino 1-1 1-3 3. Totals 30-59 14-22 78. Halftime score - Northern State 36-31. 3-point field goals - Midland Lutheran 7-21 (Simons 1-4, Cruise 4-9, Adam Schmoldt 1-5, McGill 1-3; Northern State 4-18 (Ratzsch 0-2, Nelson 3-8, DeWitt 0-3, Boeck 0-1, Wicks 1-4). Total fouls - Midland Lutheran 22; Northern State 22. Fouled out - Thomas. Rebounds - Midland Lutheran 26 (Schmoldt 5); Northern State 44 (Hamilton 10). Assists - Midland Lutheran 11 (Cruise 4); Northern State 15 (Ratzsch 4). Blocks - Midland Lutheran 1 (Connot 1); Northern State 3 (DeWitt 1, Schultz 1, Thomas 1). Steals - Midland Lutheran 6 (Schmoldt 2, Connot 2); Northern State 10 (Ratzsch 2, Hamilton 2, Nelson 2). Turnovers - Midland Lutheran 20; Northern State 19. Officials - Steve Macowske, Frank Kopetka, Jon McLean.